Multiple murders in Annaberg

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Memorial to the victims of multiple murders near Lassingrotte

The murder of three police officers and a paramedic in Annaberg happened on September 17, 2013, after a poacher was supposed to be controlled. Eventually the perpetrator took his own life. Since 1945, no official act in Austria (with the exception of the police murders in Linz immediately after the Second World War ) has killed so many police officers. A total of five people died.

course

prehistory

According to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, the perpetrator Alois Huber was an excellent hunter, did not attract attention in his social environment and lived alone on a farm near Großpriel , a cadastral community of Melk in the Melk district in Lower Austria . According to the Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse , he had a hunting license and a hunting ground. He was only allowed to hunt small game there, such as hares or pheasants. He was legally in possession of six weapons, mostly for hunting. The 55-year-old at the time of the crime was working as a transport company. According to reports from the Austrian media, he is also said to have illegally owned hand grenades . According to the magazine OE24 , Huber might have expected that he would be caught: two months before the crime, he began to sell his property. For example, he sold his motorcycle, a BMW R 1200 GS .

Since 2008, the police have been investigating at least eight poaching cases in Lower Austria and Styria . In March 2011, a poacher, presumably Huber, was caught red-handed by a hunter in the Melk district . The suspect attacked the hunter and fled with his car, on which he had used stolen license plates.

Since 2009, eight torsos of deer have been found in the Lilienfeld district , the heads of which had been severed with sharp blades. The first such act was registered in the Gesäuse in Styria in 2008 , and cases later appeared in the Lilienfeld district. At least eight such deer carcasses were found there in 2009 and 2010.

Sequence of events

The police carried out a surveillance operation against the wanted poacher (s). At a road block on the L101 near Annaberg , three Cobra officers tried to stop Alois Huber's car. The perpetrator broke through this roadblock by ramming a police car and escaping in the direction of Äussere Schmelz. The police shot after the fugitive and started the chase. The fugitive got off the road in his car and pushed through a fence. There he opened fire with a Stg 77 . A Cobra policeman was seriously injured and died two hours later of blood loss in the St. Pölten State Hospital . The perpetrator shot at an ambulance hurrying to help near the sawmill located there. Another policeman was injured. A 70-year-old medic of the Red Cross was shot when he tried to help the injured police officers.

Then the perpetrator fled on foot through the forest in the direction of Lassinghof. After about one kilometer he encountered another police patrol and immediately fired again. The perpetrator is said to have killed one of the police officers with a head shot. The second police officer returned fire and hit the perpetrator in the stomach area. This shot back again and also killed the second policeman. Huber stole the police car and took the body of the second policeman, who was found dead in a barn near the house in the late afternoon. The body was recovered with armored vehicles. The perpetrator holed up in his square courtyard on a hill . According to the police, the perpetrator kept shooting out of the farmhouse as soon as he saw someone. In the morning and noon, the emergency services had tried for hours to speak to the suspect, but the contact failed. However, he phoned a friend and is said to have announced his suicide. He told his friend that he had already shot his dog. During the phone call, he admitted that he was “the poacher from Annaberg”.

The suspect's last sign of life came around 5:30 p.m. when a single shot was fired from the farm. At around 6:20 p.m., the Cobra special unit began accessing the homestead. Before that, armored vehicles had pulled up in front of the farm. Several helicopters observed the homestead from above. The "Cobra" carried out a so-called "secured search" of the widely ramified and winding property. In the evening it began to rain heavily. According to ORF, the electricity in the suspect's house was switched off at 7:13 p.m. At 7:31 p.m., shots rang out, according to reporters. At 9:38 pm, “heute.at” reported that it was uncertain whether the perpetrator was still on the farm or was alive. At 11:04 p.m., shots rang out again on the premises.

Through accompanying investigative work, the police learned of a hiding place that could only be reached through a secret door . The emergency services opened the door and wanted to enter the room. There was a fire in the room itself, the influx of oxygen also fanned the flames. When the fire was extinguished, police discovered a cremated body. The body was charred beyond recognition. However, the police assumed that it was the body of Alois Huber.

Police operation

A special police unit arrived after the multiple murders. Around a hundred police officers surrounded the perpetrator's property from 7:00 a.m. The area was cordoned off over a large area. A crisis intervention team was also on site. Several contacts with the perpetrator by the police failed.

In the morning, the police asked the media not to publish some details in order to protect any hostages that the man might have with him. During the afternoon the four dead were officially confirmed. At 5 p.m. the police gave a press conference because it was certain he was alone in the house.

Around 135 police officers from the Cobra Sonderkommando and 200 law enforcement officers were involved in the operation. The Cobra unit spent around six hours searching the property.

The Austrian Ministry of Defense announced armored personnel of the Armed Forces had been requested, so that the police could protect approach the farmhouse. In addition to a wheeled armored vehicle from the police, two Saurer armored personnel carriers and a pioneer armored vehicle were also used. The police were unsure whether there were explosives in the house. The demining service was called in as a precautionary measure. Since the gunman had a long gun, the police had to cordon off the area around the house. Neighbors had to leave their homes.

An evaluation of the police operation followed after the rampage. The police denied criticism that they underestimated the dangerousness of the perpetrator.

Investigations

After the rampage, the police first tried to clarify whether the corpse in the yard was Alois Huber. The dead died from a shot in the head. The St. Pölten public prosecutor assumed a suicide. The body was autopsied. The body had been identified by relatives.

The fire in the yard was started and had been burning for a long time when the police attacked.

The weapons seized on the property are numerous long and handguns . The police checked their origins as they were unsure whether they were all legally acquired. Connections with a series of burglaries and arson attacks in hunting villas in the vicinity of the perpetrator are being examined. Hunting villas and castles were broken into, and only hunting rifles were stolen. In many cases the house was then set on fire. A "Cobra" commandant said that an extensive arsenal of weapons in the three-digit range had been secured in the basement of Huber. According to the police, he had made use of many weapons in the course of the operation.

Reactions

"During these hours, my full sympathy and my deeply felt sympathy go to the relatives and colleagues of those who died." ( Werner Faymann (Federal Chancellor) : Vienna Online)

“Today's drama is unprecedented in Austrian police history. My deepest condolences go to the families of the victims. And my thanks go to the emergency services for their level-headedness during the access. ”( Johanna Mikl-Leitner (Minister of the Interior) : Vienna online ) The Minister of the Interior also invited to a funeral service in Vienna 's St. Stephen's Cathedral on October 1, 2013 , celebrated by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn . The invitation referred to the relatives, members of the blue light organizations, as well as the entire government.

The Austrian National Council remembered the victims with a minute's silence.

The Archbishop of Vienna , Cardinal Christoph Schönborn , also expressed his deepest condolences to the relatives. He was particularly touched by the fact that “on the big police pilgrimage in Mariazell on Friday they were able to thank God that no civil servant perished in the course of his work in the past year.” ( Christoph Schönborn (Archbishop of Vienna) : Vienna online )

In his reaction, Lower Austrian Governor Erwin Pröll ordered that all public buildings in Lower Austria be flagged for mourning.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Police search property of alleged poachers. In: sueddeutsche.de . September 17, 2013, accessed October 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ http://www.oe24.at/oesterreich/chronik/slideshow/Das-ist-der-Wilderer-Alois-H/116312672
  3. ^ Annaberg murders: rifle came from the armed forces. In: kurier.at. August 13, 2014, accessed December 25, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Zeit im Bild Spezial on September 18, 2013; 7:00 a.m.
  5. ↑ Suspected gunman died from a shot in the head. In: derStandard.at. September 18, 2013, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Vienna online
  7. ^ Vienna Online
  8. ↑ The press (reactions)
  9. ↑ Vienna online

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 2.3 ″  N , 15 ° 17 ′ 57.3 ″  E